Re: Question for Peter Merlin


Message posted by Peter Merlin on October 27, 2010 at 17:28:37 PST:

This was an episode of MysteryQuest that was first aired on The History Channel on 14 October 2009. It was, unfortunately, not a good show. The show’s producers lured me in with the promise that their "expedition based investigative series" would focus on the truth about Area 51 instead of the mythology. As usual, it was a lie.

As usual, audience was treated to the standard hype about extraterrestrials and the same old encounters with “cammo dude” security guards, night-vision cameras trained on the sky, and a hike up Tikaboo Peak.

Initially, the episode was to focus solely on current and historical activities at Groom Lake. The cameras would follow an investigative team consisting of MUFON-Nevada director Mark Easter and myself. We were later joined by Glenn Campbell for the Tikaboo Peak trek and Glenn later took the MysteryQuest crew to Green River, Utah, to “investigate” the long debunked rumors of a “new Area 51” first espoused in the 1997 Popular Mechanics article.

I had been promised that this show would tell the real story of Area 51 and that my expertise was needed. Unfortunately, the script outline was already fixed and the Field Producer stymied me at nearly every turn. If I tried to give some facts about Area 51 that had been uncovered through my dedicated research efforts, I was told that “it would spoil the mystery.”

I was repeatedly told to remember that, "Area 51 is a mystery." Well, I thought the point of the show was to solve the mystery. Apparently that was not the case.

The Field Producer constantly forced Mark to raise the ET hypothesis even though he prefers to avoid such behavior during a real investigation. He complained bitterly about having to do and say things that were clearly out of character.

Glenn chose the path of least resistance. He suggested that we just give them what they want, no matter how ridiculous. Glenn is perfectly happy just playing along and at times we managed to have some fun with it.

It was mostly kabuki theater, all highly stylized moves. The production company hired a contractor from Las Vegas to set up several night-vision cameras in the desert outside the perimeter of the Nellis Range to reveal "anything flying over Groom Lake." Unfortunately, the cameras had such wide-angle lenses that they wouldn't capture anything in detail and they fed into VHS tape decks so resolution was poor.

The worst offenses came on Day Two. The MysteryQuest producers had told me they wanted to “investigate a mystery crash site” near Area 51. I told them I didn’t know of any unidentified sites but that I could take them to any of several crash sites of experimental aircraft from Area 51. They picked the D-21B crash site because it was relatively close to Rachel.

It could have been a great story without any embellishment. In 1967, a rocket-propelled Lockheed D-21B unmanned spy craft from Area 51 was accidentally launched from a B-52 and crashed near a small rural community. According to my interviews with military and civilian witnesses, personnel from Area 51 quickly secured the crash and cleaned up every trace of wreckage. Witnesses were admonished to forget what they had seen.

During a 2005 investigation of the crash site, I had found some small pieces of debris along with one very large piece. Using declassified technical manuals, I was able to identify the material as part of the secret drone. I warned the MysteryQuest Field Producer that we might not make any new discoveries on camera and suggested I show them what I had already found and identified. She said they didn’t want to do a recreation of the discovery and insisted that they would not stage a “find” but she wanted a sample to send to a lab for identification.

When we filmed the largest piece of wreckage at the site, I pointed out that it was clearly identifiable through its materials and construction, inspection stamps, etc. The Field Producer cut the scene short and told me I couldn't say that on camera. We had to keep it a mystery so that a piece of debris could be identified in the lab. I thought that seemed ridiculous and wasteful but the producer said, "That's what the audience expects."

We re-shot the scene, pretending not to know what the part might have come from. When Mark was told to ask me if there could possibly be anything extraterrestrial about the debris, he objected because it was clearly man-made and I objected because it was easily and completely identifiable. The Field Producer promised that between the laboratory analysis of debris and an interview I was to give later (presenting my research findings), we would be able to show what it was.

She also said she did not want to “fake any discovery” of debris. After a fruitless search for new (i.e. previously undiscovered) debris, however, she decided to have Mark “discover” one of the pieces I had found in 2005 – a twisted brass fitting that looked “alien.” We analyzed the item with a Geiger counter before “collecting” it.

On the final day, we arose well before dawn and drove to the Tikaboo Peak trailhead with Glenn. The production company had rented an enormous telephoto lens in the hope of getting detailed mages of the base. Since it weighed around 250 pounds in its protective case, four local teens were hired to lug it up the mountain. It proved to be a fairly pointless exercise, however. Although we started hiking around sunrise, it took more than six hours to reach the summit, by which time the atmospheric conditions were less than ideal. Looking though the camera, I began to point out the various buildings at Area 51 and identify them. Naturally the Field Producer cut me off, "No, don't tell us that. Ask Glenn. He's supposed to be our guide." Glenn’s immediate response was, "What are you asking me for? Pete's the real expert."

The only worthwhile part of the hike was the impromptu air show by an F-16 and MH-60G from Groom. They performed aerobatics and fly-bys for nearly 20 minutes. I don't know how they knew we were there or why they would bother sending the F-16 but it provided some excitement.

The MysteryQuest episode was originally to focus solely on Area 51 but halfway through the final edit, the producers decided to expand the scope to include a whole bunch of unrelated UFO material (Roswell, Nazca lines, UFO sightings by jet pilots, etc.). Now titled “Alien Cover-Up,” the script quickly changed from a coherent narrative to a confusing jumble with too many subjects being thrown at the viewers with little explanation.

After the show aired, Internet discussion forums were filled with negative feedback from viewers. Many people were dissatisfied with the slipshod production and the fact that most of the material was rehashed from every previous Area 51 program. The show provided almost no new information and perpetuated the myth that Area 51 was an officially unacknowledged facility, something I long ago disproved with extensive documentation.

One ironic incident took place while were staying in Rachel, supposedly investigating to learn the truth about Area 51. At the Little Ale'Inn, we met a man named Jim who had worked at Area 51 for 14 years. The MysteryQuest crew didn't even bother interviewing him. Like the rest of the production, it was a missed opportunity.


In Reply to: Question for Peter Merlin posted by Hankmann on October 27, 2010 at 7:54:32 PST:

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